Date

8-6-2025

Department

College of Arts and Sciences

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in History (PhD)

Chair

Angela Tharp

Keywords

Sarah Josepha Hale, Godey's Lady's Book, American Ladies' Magazine, Louis Godey, Modern Social Imaginaries, print culture, magazines, American culture, nineteenth century, nationalism, women's education, anti-suffrage, women's rights, first-wave feminism, Cult of Domesticity, gender roles

Disciplines

History

Abstract

For forty years Sarah Josepha Hale was the editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book, the most popular periodical in antebellum America. She played a crucial role in shaping a modern social imaginary for women in the United States. Her editorial influence extended beyond literature and fashion as she championed causes such as women’s education, the professionalization of domesticity, and the nationalization of the Thanksgiving holiday. Hale’s editorial work, personal writing, and activism shaped the modern American social imaginary by defining national customs, reinforcing gender norms, and fostering a moral framework that balanced religious influences with an evolving secular public culture. Hale helped construct a vision of national identity, gender roles, and moral values that resonated across class and regional divides. Her impact remains evident in enduring cultural traditions.

Utilizing Hale’s publications, including American Ladies’ Magazine, Godey’s Lady’s Book, her many books, poems, and editorials this dissertation argues that Hale’s work contributed to the emergence of an American civic and moral order that blended traditional religious values with an increasingly secular public sphere. She articulated in print an ideal of womanhood that upheld moral and domestic virtues while encouraging women to participate in intellectual and charitable work. By dispensing her vision of womanhood in print through Godey’s Lady’s Book, she made her ideas part of a shared cultural framework for American women.

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